Is Sergio Garcia... Really Back?

Sergio Garcia after hitting a shot while standing in water during the 3rd round 

Has anyone else noticed what Sergio Garcia has done lately? If not, I'll let you know. First off, he's had quite a solid year on the PGA Tour, with 3 top 15s in the majors, which showed he arguably had the best season in terms of play in majors this year. This is after 2 rough, rough years in which reports indicated he might even quit golf altogether.

Now, rather than just putting in solid play all year whilst not winning, he's even returning to THAT winning form. I don't know if you heard, but he absolutely dominated at the Castello Masters last week, putting on a clinic for his hometown crowd while on cruise control to at 11 shot. I don't think I've ever seen him play that well, other than at The Players Championship in '08.

This week, El Nino has a chance to win yet again! He currently sits 2 ahead of everyone this week at the Andalucia Masters, with a nice 3rd round 67. This course has shown to be extremely tough, as he's only at 6 under par so far. He's vying for three things right now: back-to-back wins, a spot in next week's HSBC Champions, and the first Spaniard to win this event while held at the challenging Valderrama golf course.

If Sergio goes on to win this thing, then I believe people will start to definitely take notice that he's coming back stronger than ever. We all know that he's one of the most talented players in golf, and when he is confident, he's easily one of the best. Even if he weren't able to capture this title, it wouldn't be so bad. Because even then, we still have seen the best out of Sergio since 2008, where I believe he was the Player of the Year.

I really hope Sergio wins this event. When he's playing well, it's good for the game and tv ratings. His talent and polarizing figure bring more interest to the sport. If he can keep this amazing form up and take it to the PGA Tour next year, then we should be in for something special.

Photo via Getty Images

Final Push

As the 3rd round of the BMW Championship is coming to a full close, here is an updated list on the projected Fed Ex Cup standings if the tournament were to end right now. With a spot in the TOUR Championship and (for some) spots in the President's Cup on the line, tomorrow will be a very critical day for a lot of players. Some need high finishes, for example- Sergio Garcia needs at least a T-5 to move on (currently T-7) and Australian Geoff Ogilvy needs a 3rd place finish to advance as well (currently T-3). It will be a GREAT day of golf as all of these pros will feel the heat as if they were in contention in the final day of a major.

               

(Photos via: Go Away images and Armchair golf blog)

Fallen Stars

This sport called "golf" is known by many as "deceptively simple, yet endlessly complicated". The two men pictured above, Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia, have been known for making it look just like the first part of that quote. But as of right now, both are living on the end of the last part of that saying. Both of these golf superstars had a lost 2010 season that will both force them to play excellent golf to achieve their once elite forms.

Just 2 years ago, they were the top 2 players in the world, with Tiger ranked 1 and Sergio right behind him ranked 2nd, respectively. Now where are they? Well, by the end of this week Tiger is going to fall out of the top 10 for the first time since April 6, 1997 when he was ranked No. 13 heading into The Masters (according to ESPN). Sergio isn't doing any better. Garcia has fallen to a woeful 73rd in the world, and is in danger of missing a major championship for the first time since 1999. However, he is playing in this week's PGA Tour event, so he still has a chance to improve on his ranking.

Both had extremely subpar 2010 seasons. Let's start with Mr. Woods. Post-scandal Tiger has not been anywhere near the same since that fateful incident. He's not only gone through a divorce, but he's suffered multiple injuries and a massive swing change. All of this culminated in a 0-win year in 2010 with scarce top-tens. This season hasn't been much better, with only 2 top-10s and a shocking first-day bounce at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Champoinship. Also, last weeks WD at THE PLAYERS Championship doesn't help his cause, and keeps the critics alive and well. And with his ranking plummeting week after week, it will be interesting to see how this season is remembered for Tiger, as the months go by without a win and the questions of him being able to get back to form continue to rise.

Little video about Tiger, courtesy of ESPN:


Now, onto Mr. Garcia. The Spaniard had a horrendous 2010 season, with only one top ten, which came in his first start of that season. In fact, his game got away from him so bad that he decided to give himself a 2 month break after the PGA Championship to get his head back on straight. And although he has a relatively OK start to this season (3 top 15 finishes), the break dropped his world ranking to the low 80s, with it being currently No. 73. But, he is still danger of missing the U.S. Open at Congressional in June, with him needing to either crack the top 50 in the OWGR or reach the top 10 in the PGA Tour money list with 2 more weeks to go. If he doesn't, his consecutive streak of 49 majors played will come to an end, and that's something that he's not trying to think about. All he's been trying to do is go out everyday and play as well as he can, and let the chips fall where they may

Video about Sergio, again courtesy of ESPN:


Overall, both golfers have fallen off immensely with their golf skills, and are desperately trying to regain it back. Like I said before, it was only in 2009 when these two superstars were on the top of the golf world at 1 and 2, just as many golf analysts predicted many years back when they were young phenoms. They still both have the talent to reach great heights again, but only time will tell to see if these golfers can regain what they've lost. And if they do play well again, the golf world will happily greet them back, as this game is always more interesting when you see "Woods" or "Garcia" on the first page of the leaderboard.

photo courtesy: www.theage.com

Pick of the Week: THE PLAYERS Championship

Here we are ladies and gentlemen- THE PLAYERS Championship, aka the 5th major!! The tournament with the biggest purse, the deepest field, and the course that nobody owns. Famed TPC Sawgrass in Florida favors no particular golfer, as nobody here has collected more than 2 wins on this course (and the list of two-time winners is small as well). The one thing that can be said about Sawgrass is this: you better be in excellent form the whole week with your golf game, and you better be mentally tough, or you will get eaten alive. Not having those components usually spells disaster. Generally, another rule of thumb around Sawgrass is you must be accurate and be able to putt on Sunday. Watch out for these things as the tournament rolls on. Also, watch out for a few notable story lines this week, such as how Tiger does and how his injury impacts him (or not), if Luke Donald can back up a great season with a great win, if Martin Kaymer can show people he is World No. 2 worthy, and if Sergio Garcia can continue to find his form to continue his streak of majors played at next month's U.S. Open. Now, off to my choice for this week. I'm going to go with Aussie Adam Scott. The 2004 Champion obviously knows what it takes to win here, capturing that aforementioned win with a clutch putt on the 18th hole en route to his victory. He's been in good form this year too, posting a runner-up finish at the Masters with a sprinkle of other top-10's as well as he continues to roll with the long putter. Adam has arguably the best swing in golf, so once he figured out how to putt well again, his form has returned. I expect good things out of the still young 30 year-old, and a good finish to this tournament to boot.

P.O.W. Re-Cap: Last week things got a bit confusing in our Pick of the Week standings. Bernardo's pick Rory McIlroy missed the halfways cut, while my pick Anthony Kim just made it in. Yet, with the new two-cut policy the TOUR can apply to tournaments nowadays, Kim was cut after the third round. After talking to Bernardo I decided that this should be a tie, since neither of our playing techiniallly finished the required 72 holes last week to post a number. So it sits at Bernardo-6, JJ-3.

Already used- Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Rickie Fowler, Aaron Baddeley, Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Anthony Kim.

Adam before the tournament action this week:

photo source: telegraph.co.uk